I have a 2008 dodge ram 1500 with the 5.7 hemi 4x4. I bought it less than a month ago. My buddy and I were driving to the store not off roading or misusing the vehicle in anyway. But because we live in WA and it rains almost eveveryday, we ran into a low spot in the road where water was about up to the bottom of the rim on the tires or so. Me being in a truck didn't think any thing of it and just kept driving. When I hit the water the water splashed up and my engine stalled. I had it towed to the dealership where I purchased the vehicle and the Mechanic said that it was hydro locked and needs a new engine which he said is gonna run me 4 thousand out the door. The issue is I have full coverage insurance and a warranty on the truck. He's trying to tell me that warranty company won't pay for it and that if I try to claim it they will just pull my warranty saying it was neglect and abuse to the truck. The truck has had a aftermarket air filtee on it since I bought it. And he's trying to say that they also won't cover it bc of that but if it's the warranty company that agreed to cover the truck shouldn't they have known that there was an after market air filter on it? Any ideas on how to go about this?

 

contact the insurance company yourself... not thru the dealer..

and I question there opinion... maybe have it towed to another dealer...

it takes a lot of water to lock a running engine.

 

What the fine print say? You're going to have to fight. Aftermarket warranties first line of defence is to deny a claim. Your word against theirs. My idea is to thoroughly read the warranty.

 

Something's fishy. It takes alot of water, one big *** puddle. If hitting a puddle did it, I should have put a dozen engines in my 04.

 

That was my thought! My buddy that was with me had a 2 year degree in automotvie repair. We didn't try to fix anything but we did pull one coil pack and the spark plugs out of one cylinder and they were clean as well as the inside cylinder from what we could see. But we only pulled one we weren't gonna pull them all since we were on the side of the road and the Mechanic said he checked the middle cyilnders only and he said I have atleast two bent rods. We also changed the oil and filter while we sat on the road trying to see how much water got in and it didn't even look that milky it was milky for about 2 Mississippi secs and then it looked like regulag oil I'm so confused

 

Did you try to start it? Did the engine turn over?

 

The engine started but it had a hell acoustic noise one buddy said it sounded like a rod knock the other said that he's done it before and just ran it until the engine got hot enough to evaporate the water and never had a problem he also had a dodge

 

Hydrolock will not always put water in the oil. It fills the cylinders with water and since water doesn't compress like air and a small amount of fuel does, it usually bends connecting rods when the piston is stopped by the water in the cylinder.

 

" My buddy and I were driving to the store not off roading or misusing the vehicle in anyway."

Uh huh


Does this vehicle have an aftermarket air intake? The factory intake has baffles and sections that would normally slow the influx of water into the intake and at LEAST prevent it from ingesting water splashed up.

Either...

A.) You and your buddy went puddle hunting
B.) The water was much deeper than you claim
C.) Aftermarket air intake allowed water to easily enter the engine